Mireloa Berlin-based artificial intelligence company that automatically generates sound effects for videos, has secured $41 million in seed funding.
The round saw investment from Index Ventures and Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), with participation from Atlantic.vc and TriplePoint Capital.
Founded in 2023, the startup develops core templates that produce synchronized sound effects for video content. Mirelo says this fills a gap in the development of generative AI.
While AI has advanced rapidly in generating text, images and video, audio technology is lagging behind, according to Mirelo. The startup says video creators currently spend hours searching stock libraries and manually syncing sound effects with visuals.
Mirelo claims to generate matching audio for videos “in seconds.”
CJ Simon-GabrielCEO and co-founder of Mirelo, said: “Think of the difference between talkies and silent films: video without sound has much less feel and atmosphere. »
“Our biggest mission is to become the audio layer for all visual content in video, games, social media, movies and beyond. »
CJ Simon-GabrielMirelo
“Mirelo’s first step is to democratize access, allowing everyone to create the sound their (AI) video deserves. But we will also empower professionals to rework audio, to do more of what they love, to be more expressive and imaginative in what they can achieve, while still handling boring tasks like synchronization. Our biggest mission is to become the audio layer for all visual content in videos, games, social media, films and beyond.
The founders, Simon-Gabriel and CTO Florian Wenzelmet while working as an AI researcher at Amazon Web Services Labs. Simon-Gabriel holds a doctorate in machine learning and causal inference from Max Planck Institutewhere he studied under a computer scientist Bernhard Schölkopf. He carried out postdoctoral work at ETH Zurichwhile Wenzel earned his PhD in deep learning at Humboldt University and previously worked at Google Brain.
Mirelo recently released Mirelo SFX v1.5a video-sound effect model accessible via an API and a web application called Mirelo Studio. According to Mirelo, the models require “50 times less computation” than large, traditional language models while providing “higher quality than any competitor to date, according to external reviews.”
Wenzel said: “There is a deep affinity between music and engineering; perhaps this is why so many of the Mirelo team are musicians, and why musicians have always been the first to adopt new technologies. »
“There is something about the intersection of mathematical precision and expressiveness that seems to attract people to both fields.”
“There is a deep affinity between music and engineering; perhaps that’s why so many of the Mirelo team are musicians, and why musicians have always been early adopters of new technologies.”
Florian WenzelMirelo
Georgia Stevensonthe Index Ventures partner who led the investment, said: “Sound is too often an afterthought in video production, yet it’s what determines whether a video or game truly resonates with its audience. Mirelo offers creators a new form of expression, allowing them to move faster and sound better.”
“The team led by CJ and Florian combines cutting-edge expertise in AI with an unprecedented focus on the emotional power of audio. It’s a combination that positions them to reshape the way the world perceives sound.”
“Sound is too often an afterthought in video production, when it’s what determines whether a video or game truly resonates with its audience.”
Georgia StevensonIndex Ventures
Index Ventures has also invested in other music technology companies, including a futuristic instrument company. ROLI and concert discovery service song shot. In 2019, she participated in a funding round for a crowdfunding membership platform based in San Francisco. Patreon.
Guido Appenzellerpartner at Andreessen Horowitz, also commented on Mirelo’s investment, saying: “To date, a16z has invested in several leading generative models, each with a different focus area. Mirelo is tackling one of the most technical and least explored areas of generative media: a specialized model for creating sound effects.”
“CJ and Florian have built a research-driven team whose advancements in data tokenization, curation and packaging rival much larger efforts and we are excited to support Mirelo as they evolve their technology for the next generation of video models.”
“Mirelo tackles one of the most technically challenging and least explored areas of generative media: a specialized model for creating sound effects.”
Guido AppenzellAndreessen Horowitz
This is a16z’s latest investment in AI. The venture capital firm has makes investments in ChatGPT developer OpenAIElon Musk’s AI business xAI, data infrastructure and AI software company Data bricksand AI audio start ElevenLabs.
Last year, a16z said in a submission At United States Copyright Office (USCO) that training AI on copyrighted materials is fair use and does not constitute intellectual property theft. The company wrote: “When an AI model is trained on copyrighted works, the goal is not to store the potentially copyrightable content (i.e., protectable expression) of any work on which it is trained. Instead, the training algorithms are designed to use training data to extract facts and statistical patterns across a wide range of content examples, that is, information that is not protected by copyright.”
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